


Confrontation

by idrilhadhafang



Series: The Broken Edge AUs [13]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars: Bloodline - Claudia Gray
Genre: Attempted Murder, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Child Abandonment, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mother-Son Relationship, Neglect, Past Child Abuse, character death is padme, leia organa needs a hug, married darkpilot, mentioned anakin/padme, toxic parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 12:54:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11208507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: In which Ben and Poe set up a talk with Leia.





	Confrontation

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author's Notes: No prompts this time. Was curious to see how the confrontation would go, actually.

  
The matter of confronting his mother isn’t what one would call easy.

  
Looking back, Ben can’t say that he’s actually confronted his mother. The closest he’s come to that has been the argument over Ben and Poe being engaged, and that was more of an argument that masked the more serious things under something that Ben would be considered a brat for complaining about.

  
(Brat. Something that Ben Solo has heard time upon time before. Too many times to count, actually)

  
The thing about confronting his mother is, Ben reads, it’s never to be done in the heat of anger. You have to be in a good place to do it. Ben can’t say he’s good at being patient or being in a good place to do something, but he can at least try to do what he can.

  
When he does contact his mother, she’s in her Senatorial regalia and looks stiff, almost as if she’s been carved from ice. “Ben,” she says, and her voice is softer. “Poe. What an unexpected surprise.”

  
The juxtaposition between her posture and her voice is unnerving enough. She’s been wondering how to approach this, Ben thinks. Poe steps in. “We want to talk to you about something,” he says. “It’s not going to be a beat-up-on-you session, I promise. We just want to ask you something.”

  
Silence. Then, “Is it about Ben’s grandfather?”

  
“It is,” Ben says. And already, the rules about not confronting in the heat of anger are starting to slip away in that moment, because he is angry, he is angry all over again. Only Poe’s hand in his keeps him from exploding.

“Why didn’t you tell me about him?”

  
Leia looks genuinely pained in that moment. Then, “I wanted to keep you safe from him.”   
“How would this even begin to keep me safe?”   
“It would have given you the chance for a normal life. You wouldn’t have to live with his shadow hovering over you. I couldn’t tell you after all the things he did. To me, to your uncle, to your grandmother, to the galaxy…”

  
“You thought I wouldn’t be able to handle it?”

  
“Considering you were a child at the time, probably!” Leia says.

  
“What did he do, Mom? Really?”

  
Leia takes a deep breath. “His cruelties to the galaxy are already well-known,” she says. “But the way he tore our family apart, the way he tried to kill your grandmother as well as me and your uncle…that’s less known.”

  
“He…tried to kill you?”

  
“Yes. The moment he reached out and Force Choked his own wife and unborn children, he good as tried to kill them.” Leia looks like she’s about to cry. “It’s too much to tell a young child. I don’t think you ever could have been ready for it. And as you got older, I wondered how to tell you, but I could never find the right way.”

  
“I believe you.” Even knowing his grandfather tried to kill his grandmother, mother and uncle is enough to make Ben feel like he’s been punched in the chest. “My grandmother…what happened to her?”

  
“According to Artoo, she died of a broken heart. But I think that your grandfather good as killed her.”

  
“Why did he do it?” Ben can’t even imagine doing such a horrible thing to Poe. Choking him, hurting him in any way.

  
“He thought your grandmother was trying to kill him. Collaborating with Obi-Wan Kenobi, at that! Never mind that she was trying to save him – far too good for him, actually.”

  
“Yeah.” Ben can’t disagree.

  
Leia continues. “I wanted you safe from his legacy. I wanted you to have a normal life. And then…Snoke came into the picture. He’s been watching you ever since before you were born, Ben.”

  
“And you knew.” Ben’s lips feel numb even as he speaks. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Was he never a sentient being in his own right, only a living minefield, only some sort of puppet, something like that?

  
“I did. Ben…do you remember those talks we had about strangers?”

  
“I…do.” Ben can vaguely remember them, at least.

  
“Everything I did, I did to protect you from both of them. Snoke and Vader.”

  
“You abandoned me.”

  
Silence. “I thought Uncle Luke would keep you safe.”

  
“You have no idea how scared I was. How I thought there was something wrong with me. I hated everything about me, and I knew you hated me too.”

  
Leia’s eyes widen. Then, “Ben…of course not.”   
“You were afraid of me!”

  
“For you,” Leia corrects. “Not of.”

  
Silence reigns between them as Ben tries to take it fully in. So all these years trying to get approval, and it was for nothing?

  
Leia continues. “I’m sorry, Ben. I don’t think any apology is going to make up for how…inadequate I was. But I am sorry.”

  
And with that, it’s as if a curse is broken. Ben stumbles back, with only Poe’s hand as reassurance, steadiness.

  
“Thank you,” Ben says, when he steadies himself. “Thank you.”

  
“I should have told you the truth long ago, Ben. And I’m sorry you found out the way you did. I truly am. You deserve more answers than I gave you before.”

  
Ben nods. Then, he says, slowly, “Tell me more about my grandparents.” So many things unknown, so many things damaged. Now…now it seems he’s on the road to fixing them.


End file.
